The Secret World Beta Bonanza Part 4 – Through the Gate

When last we met our hero, Mathias, he was trying to make the best of a peculiar out of the body experience that saw him possessing another investigator called Sarah. She and her friends seem to be having some monster issues on the Japanese subway. Having survived his first combat, and sort of having got the hang of it, they’re taking a breather at the top of the steps, before heading deeper into the Subway system.

The rest has given him time to think, and he recalls that, during his rather unpleasant bee-related experiences in his origin story, he did hear something on the television news about a disaster occurring in Japan. The police officer he met in London also spoke about not wanting a repeat of that incident in her city.

The disaster he’s currently involved in seems very much ongoing, with civilians still running around the subway getting eaten. Could it be that he’s not only displaced in space, but in time?

Join us, as we “Go Through the Gate.”

15:30 pm GMT, 12th of May

Actually, I just need to play through from the beginning of of arrival in Japan again. Seems that logging out on the stairs last night caused me to fail the mission, so need to restart it. I’m going through this tutorial about 5% as fast as a normal person, so I doubt too many folks will be logging out in the middle of it.

16:37 pm GMT, 12th of May

We head down the stairs, fighting another large group of those infected head-tentacle people. It’s a good thing I’m not alone, or I suspect it would go quite badly for me.
Arriving at the bottom, Alex the Illuminati has a plan. It appears to be that I should go first. I consider telling them that I’m not actually Sarah, and that whatever impressive fighting skills she might have, I’m just a frightened beardy chap with a shotgun. There is the risk they might just shoot me if I tell them that though, so I decide to take my chances with the monsters. After all, I DO have a shotgun, and that’s half the battle in this sort of situation.

Oh, I got a new power, kneecapper, a cone-area snare. Let us go over my various combat powers:

Your combat abilities in the Secret World tutorial

Pump Action: Affects up to 5 enemies in a 60 degree 7 metre cone for some decent damage. This has been my go-to ability so far, given that the enemy has been attacking in packs.
Powder Burn: Single target attack that theoretically should also be impairing and knocking them down.

Kneecapper: A cone-shaped snare, but with a more significant cooldown than my other abilities. I shall probably forget to use this one most of the time, though it is probably desperately important.

Ah, yes. I suppose I should go through that gate now. It does look a bit slimey down there though.

17:10 pm GMT, 12th of May

More of these infected zombies leap out, but these ones seem a bit stronger. I make a point of trying powder burn out on them, and it does a very nice job of knocking them backwards. I’m getting rather overwhelmed though, with the enemies being far more interested in all shooting me than my “friends”, and it starts looking like I might actually die. Just as that is looking certain, I realise that my health can’t go below 375. I guess letting people get killed in the tutorial would not be ideal.

Rejoining my companions on the far side of the room, it appears they have come up with a new plan. They inform me that I need to look for Zuberi, another investigator who’s trapped down here. They will “make a stand”, and hold the monsters off here. Then they all run off back up the stairs.

Don't worry about me!! I'll be fine! Probably.

Well that’s just great. I did just get another power though:

Out For A Kill: Consumes all shotgun resources. Does a lot of damage to a single opponent. My other shotgun attacks were building up shotgun resources, but until now I didn’t have anything to do with it. Oddly, it does not sound like it matters how many shotgun resources I have. I shall experiment!

Moving towards the exit, I have my chance to do just that. Aieeee, what fresh horror is this?!?

The Filthy Mass Effect

I’ve no idea what it wanted with me, but this was no ordinary gribbly zombie. It would power up for particularly explosive assaults, and I was informed that I should watch out for this, and avoid them. I got the hang of spotting his intentions, but actually getting out of the way proved more elusive. No doubt it will require practise. Or learning how to combat roll.

17:45 pm GMT, 12th of May

Slight issue. It told me I’d lost connection to the server, and offered to either connect me to another one, or log out. I chose the former, but found myself back at the beginning of the mission again. Fortunately, it’s only about 5 minutes when you’re not writing or messing around with pictures. I did take the opportunity to add an extra picture of them all deserting me though, so I can make them feel bad later.

Clambering through a crashed subway train, I finally encounter Zuberi, and an unconscious security guard. He quickly teaches me how to use my powers to heal, and I bring the guard back to fighting fitness. It’s just as well.

Oho, and look who failed utterly at “making a stand”. Mei Ling, Alex, and Rose have chosen to run in this direction this time.

Gah, lost connection to server again. Back with you in a few!

18:17 pm GMT, 12th of May

I don’t seem to be able to get as far into the tutorial as I have done without getting disconnected at the moment. Bit of a problem, and having to play through the same bit over and over again is making my head spin. I’ll continue as soon as it allows me too.

22:23 pm GMT, 12th of May

Huzzah, things are working again. I’d just met up with Zuberi, as the rest of the gang decided to come help out (or more likely, ran away from something).

That’s Zuberi, down in the bottom right. It appears he’s not affiliated with any of the factions, wisely in my opinion, and is just here to deal with whatever is going on, using his spooky Haitian voodoo and cheerful demeanour. It looks like he brought a few security guards with him too, which could prove to be handy.

I hope they have good health insurance, as we step onto the next platform and a veritable army of monsters, large and small, descends upon us. A Battle Royale ensues!!

We defeat the first wave. I make a point of healing the security guards, as they do not have the protection of being important NPCs, and are very capable of dying. Another wave of enemies comes, and it becomes clear to us that we will continue to be assaulted unless we come up with a plan!

The plan, needless to say, is for everyone else to stay here, and for me to go off and deal with whatever’s causing all this. I have no idea who Sarah is, but she must be some sort of superhuman badass, considering how all their plans involve her going off on her own. Either that, or I managed to possess the least popular woman in the world.

Anyway, I leap up the stairs to the next area, only to have the tunnel collapse behind me for no apparent reason. No matter. There is no time to waste, and I head down another flight of stairs to another train platform. The train is in the station, but I don’t think I’m going to be taking a ride.

The Secret World - Mind the gap!

I’m no expert, but this looks quite a lot like a rip in space-time. Either that, or it’s a portal to my Star Trek Online Beta Bonanza. I step forward to have a better look, but am suddenly overcome. The mysterious Sarah regains control of her body once more, and I fall into inky blackness.